Marital Financial Mediation, Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements

Do you have a hard time communicating about money with your spouse? Do you feel there’s a power imbalance in your relationship? Are you and your spouse in conflict over finances? Are you willing to put in the hard work to tackle money issues and create harmony in your relationship?

For many, talking about money, even with your children, is uncomfortable. Chances are the last argument you had was about money. People argue how much they earn, spend, save, invest, or give away. Conflicts over money can occur for many reasons, beyond stresses on relationships, due to objective levels of economic hardship and transition. It is a source of common conflict in marriages, the number one reason for divorce, and a sensitive arena for generational conversations.

Marital Financial Mediation

We provide financial mediation in support of your marriage and economic partnership. We work with you through a process that helps you as a couple articulate your financial values and identify, analyze and resolve issues of discord. Financial mediation is a means to communicate and possibly reconcile different perspectives about money issues. With our help, you are better able to determine your future and have an action plan to measure and monitor progress toward your mutually agreed-upon goals. Sometimes this requires revisiting, amending or agreeing to end an existing prenuptial agreement. Communicating about money, changing behaviors, and aligning your values as a couple will result in the transparency, trust, and full disclosure that can strengthen your marriage.

I just wanted to write a note of thanks to you.   I was frankly astonished at how quickly and simply we finalized the support package.  I wanted to express my sincere gratitude to you.  We never would have gotten to this point in such a good place without you.  And for me personally, you were such an important voice of reason and equitable compromise.  I will be forever in your debt for the professionalism and caretaking you showed to both my wife and myself.  So, thank you again for everything. 

D.J.
Client

Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements can stimulate communication about financial topics and help manage expectations through gentle compromise. As a financial expert and seasoned mediator, we are sensitive to explaining, educating and assuring that your financial issues can be addressed in a positive light to both parties’ satisfaction concerning the division of property and spousal support in the event of divorce, disability, incapacity or death.

There are many reasons why a prenuptial agreement may be desired and necessary. Prenuptial agreements are legal agreements signed before a couple is married. They can cover divorce, estate planning, student debt, the division and attribution of income earned during the marriage, potential earning capacity, changes in domicile (equitable / community property), and a variety of other legal issues.

Postnuptial agreements are similar to prenuptial agreements, but they are crafted and signed after a couple is married. These sometimes maligned tools can be employed optimistically to enhance prospects for a long and happy marriage. On occasion, postnup agreements have helped a couple stay together.  A couple whose marriage may be in trouble can be worried about what happens if they get a divorce. But if they can agree with a postnuptial agreement that decides what would happen financially should they get divorced, then they may have solved the problem and simply don’t have to argue about money anymore.

Our talent is to make this a proactive exercise for improving better and more transparent communication around money. We actively promote these tasks as a basis for developing a healthy environment for financial planning and the setting of goals. We will draft for you a memorandum of understanding about your agreement reached on financial items. We then collaborate with attorneys and other professionals to finalize a sustainable and acceptable legal contract for you.

“Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
– Marilyn Monroe